The invention relates to a furnace installation for melting metal.
Furnace installations are used, for example, in steelworks for producing steel. In this case, scrap metal and/or reduced iron is supplied to a furnace, for example an arc furnace, in which the metallic solid material is converted into a liquid phase. The molten metal is then conditioned further until a desired quality of the liquid steel is reached.
A furnace for producing molten metal often has a working door. The working door is generally the slag door for taking out the slag before the molten metal is tapped from the furnace. The slag door is also utilized for blowing oxygen onto the liquid metal bath by a lance positioned through the working door, in order to condition the liquid metal.
During the melting process, “buttons” which clog up the working door are formed as a result of steel and slag splashes, and these have to be removed after each melting operation.
The European patent specification EP 0 663 061 A1 discloses a thrust machine, which can be moved on rails, for performing functions in the slag tap hole of steel smelting electric furnaces, equipped with an extendable arm with a front head or shield having a slightly smaller cross section than the slag tap hole of the furnace.